Saturday, December 31, 2016

*
There is always the option to directly employ workers, so the using of
workers supplied by labour suppliers('contractors for labour') is just a
means to avoid employer obligations...When worker abuses is highlighted
- so easy to simply turn around and say...' we did do it, it was the
'suppliers'..? The use of these workers supplied by labour suppliers is a
PRECARIOUS EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE. It also results in DISCRIMINATION at
the workplace - workers doing the same work end up with different wages
and rights. It also weakens Trade Unions and can be said a 'union
busting' practice. These 'supplied workers' working under the
supervision of the workplace owners are not considered 'employees' of
the workplace - rather employees of the 'labour suppliers', as such
would not be able to enjoy even the benefits of Collective Bargaining
Agreements which will only benefit employees of the workplace...

Samsung and Panasonic,
two of the world’s leading electronics brands, are facing allegations
that workers in their supply chains are being duped, exploited and
underpaid in Malaysia.

The two companies have launched investigations into allegations of
abuse made by Nepalese workers after a Guardian investigation raised
multiple concerns about their treatment.

The men said they had been deceived about pay, had their passports
confiscated and had been told that they must pay large fines if they
wanted to return to Nepal before the end of their contract. They also
claimed they were forced to work for up to 14 hours on their feet
without adequate rest, and with restricted toilet breaks, in an attempt
to settle recruitment fees of up to £1,000 – they said they had to pay
this money to secure their jobs.

They said they felt “cheated” and trapped in their factory jobs
making or assembling components for household electrical goods sold on
the global market.

“My heart is aching,” said one young man who works in a factory making Samsung
microwaves. “I was not given the job I was promised. I am doing very
difficult work. I haven’t got the salary they said I would get.”

The Guardian spoke to 30 Nepalese migrants making products for
Samsung and Panasonic. Some of those working for Samsung are employed
directly by the company, but the majority are hired through a labour
supply company. The workers assembling or making parts for Panasonic are
employed by subcontracting companies.

Both Panasonic and Samsung forbid their suppliers from confiscating
passports or charging migrant workers recruitment fees. Yet
all the men
interviewed by the Guardian claimed they paid up to £1,000 to
recruitment agents in Nepal to secure their jobs in Malaysia. They all
also claimed that their passports were confiscated on arrival in the
country, illegal under Malaysian employment law.

Workers
said this restricts their freedom of movement and leaves them open to
detention by the authorities.

Without their passports, the workers said
they couldn’t freely leave their jobs and return home without paying
fines equivalent to three or four months’ basic salary.

Both Samsung and Panasonic have said they are opening investigations into the conduct of their suppliers following the claims.

The use of labour supply companies and subcontractors is common
practice for foreign firms making goods for export in Malaysia but is a
system ripe for abuse, according to labour rights groups in the country.

Workers making Samsung products said they were threatened by
supervisors at their labour supply company when they said they were
unhappy with their work and wanted to return home. “They told us, ‘If
you don’t work, or leave without paying, we’ll bury you in Malaysia,’”
said one man.

Workers for the labour supply company used by Samsung also claimed
they were deceived about the nature and conditions of their work. They
said they had been forced to pay illegal fees by recruitment agents used
by their labour supply company hours before they departed for their new
jobs. Some said the salary they were promised in Nepal was higher than
the pay they were now receiving in Malaysia.

“I wouldn’t have come here if I had known the real conditions and salary. I was manipulated,” said one man.

“[The labour supply company in Nepal] are using the name of Samsung
to cheat people,” said another worker. “We have been cheated, but we
don’t want others to be cheated.”

Other Nepalese workers said they paid between 90,000-115,000 rupees
(£685-£875) to a labour recruitment agency in Kathmandu used by Samsung,
despite a 2015 cap on recruitment fees set at 10,000 rupees (£75) by the Nepalese government in 2015.

“I paid 115,000 rupees, but the agent only gave me a receipt for
10,000 rupees. He told me that if I was stopped at the airport I should
say that that is all I paid,” said one man working at Samsung’s
microwave plant. “I knew the agent was cheating me, but what could I
do?”

A spokesperson from Samsung said: “As a committed member of the
Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), we comply fully with
the EICC’s Code of Conduct and have found no evidence of violations in
the hiring process of migrant workers hired directly by our
manufacturing facility in Malaysia.

Once there is any complaint, we take
swift actions to investigate.

“We are currently conducting on-site investigations of labour supply
companies we work with in Malaysia and the migrant employees hired by
these companies. If any violations are uncovered, we will make immediate
corrective actions and moving forward we will suspend our business with
companies that are found to be in violation.”

Migrant workers are the fuel driving the electronics
boom, yet some face exploitation, poor living conditions, curtailed
freedom and harassment

In a factory in the capital, exhausted workers making parts for
Panasonic spoke of having to work week after week of 14-hour shifts to
try to repay the money they gave to recruitment agents in Nepal. Some
said they were still far off paying their debts 15 months after arriving
in Malaysia. Others claimed they had been told by their companies they
must pay the equivalent of three months’ wages if they left before the
end of their contract.

“If
I could find a way to go back, I’d leave right now but I am trapped by
my debts,” said one Nepalese worker, who makes parts for Panasonic. “95%
of workers here would do the same.”

Workers assembling Panasonic products in the southern city of Johor
Bahru said that they sometimes only received 700 ringgit (£133) a month –
half of what they were promised – after production slowed due to a lack
of orders.

“We know our earnings are below minimum wage, but what can we do
about it?” said one of the workers.

“We feel terrible because we have a
big loan to pay back. You have to work for three years just to pay it
off.”

Life beyond the assembly line is difficult too. In accommodation
visited by the Guardian, workers were living in a grim hostel in an
industrial area in Johor with 14 men crammed into one mouldy room. They
all shared one broken toilet and two shower cubicles, which opened
directly on to a cooking area with a single gas cooker.

In an emailed statement, Panasonic said, “Panasonic will conduct a
full investigation into the claims made by the Guardian. We are taking
these allegations very seriously and if, in fact, we discover that one
of our suppliers has violated such laws or regulations, we will ensure
and require them to take necessary corrective action immediately.

“We expect all of our suppliers to strictly comply with our CSR
[Corporate Social Responsibility] policy and declaration. These
expectations are outlined in Panasonic’s contracted terms and conditions
with each supplier. We do not tolerate breaches of these terms.”

The workers interviewed by the Guardian also complained about conditions inside the factories.

“The work is extremely difficult,” said one worker at a Samsung
electronics plant making microwave ovens.

“You get only 45 minutes in a
12-hour shift to eat, and seven minutes every two hours to drink water.”

Other
workers making parts and assembling products for Panasonic said that
they stood all day without decent breaks. One worker claimed they were
only allowed to stop work to go to the toilet twice in a 12-hour shift.

The electronics sector in Malaysia, which accounts for nearly 35% of the
country’s export economy, has faced international scrutiny for its
treatment of migrant workers. In 2014 a report by supply chain watchdog
Verité
found that nearly one third of workers in Malaysia’s electronics sector
are in forced labour, and called for wide reforms of the policies of
foreign companies operating there.

“Brands working in Malaysia have to recognise that the standard
operating procedure for labour contractors is debt bondage and this has
ramifications,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights
Watch in Asia.

“Taking someone from Nepal and putting them in a factory in Malaysia
costs money, and if these costs are not being factored into the price of
a phone, or a microwave or a speaker, then they are complicit in a
system that expects the workers to suffer as a result.” - The Guardian, 21/11/2016

...deceived about their wages and were charged
additional fees when they arrived in Malaysia, resulting in a 25%
deduction in their basic monthly salary....salaries were not received on time,
leaving them unable to buy food or send money home to their families...“We didn’t have the money to eat because we were not paid regularly,”... “How can we go to work on an empty
stomach? I thought it was a good company and I would earn good money.
Now my life is damaged. I feel that I have no future.”

“When we went to meet the managers of McDonald’s to complain, they
usually said we were not employed by McDonald’s and they are not
responsible for anything. One of my friends even went to the McDonald’s
manager crying after he heard news of his child’s death [at home in
Nepal]. He asked him to ask for his passport [from Human Connection, so
that he could attend the funeral,] but the McDonald’s manager said that
he cannot do anything. I would rather die than go back to work at
McDonald’s. I will never work there [again].”

They claim that they repeatedly informed the company about problems
relating to wages, salary deductions and passports, but received no
assistance....“I complained about our salary to McDonald’s many times, and the
branch manager … sent the message to McDonald’s headquarters,” said one
worker. “[But] McDonald’s said they had already paid Human Connection.”

The manager of one McDonald’s branch that previously employed some of
the workers claims that the company’s headquarters in Malaysia were
informed about the problems the men faced: “The labour supply company
withheld two to three months’ wages. The workers only had a photocopy of
their documents, but they should have had the original with them. We
are humans. We tried to help them with food, but you can’t do it all the
time.”

The factories and workplaces were allowed to just use workers
supplied by third parties, i.e. the labour/manpower suppliers, who were
called outsourcing agents/companies, and the said workers supplied by
them at factories and workplaces were simply referred to as ‘outsourced
workers’. For the work done by these workers, the factory and/or
workplaces just pay the outsourcing agent/company, who then pay directly
the workers that they supplied. This arrangement was most profitable
for these labour suppliers, who will continue to parasite on the sweat
and toil of workers working for another who have work and need workers.

Workers for McDonald's in Malaysia say they were victims of labour exploitation

Migrant workers employed through labour supply firm allege they were
deceived about wages, cheated of payments and had passports confiscated
unlawfully

A McDonald’s logo is seen in a restaurant in Shah Alam, outside Kuala
Lumpur. Migrants say they suffered labour abuses while working in the
firm’s restaurants in Malaysia.
Photograph: Mohd Samsul Mohd Said/Getty Images

Workers at McDonald’s restaurants in Malaysia claim they earned as little as 60p an hour and were cheated out of months of salary, a Guardian investigation has found.

The workers allege they were subjected to months – and in some cases
years – of exploitation by Human Connection HR, a labour supply company
contracted by McDonald’s in Malaysia to provide workers to its
restaurants in Kuala Lumpur.

The workers, who come from Nepal, say they had their passports confiscated, in contravention of Malaysian law.

They claim they were deceived about their wages and were charged
additional fees when they arrived in Malaysia, resulting in a 25%
deduction in their basic monthly salary. Over the course of working at
McDonald’s, this equated to the loss of months of wages.

Unlike in its other major markets – including the UK and US – where
McDonald’s operates through a franchise model, McDonald’s outlets in
Malaysia are company-owned.

The migrants also say that their salaries were not received on time,
leaving them unable to buy food or send money home to their families.

“We didn’t have the money to eat because we were not paid regularly,”
said one man, adding that some workers went on strike earlier this year
in protest at late payment of wages. “How can we go to work on an empty
stomach? I thought it was a good company and I would earn good money.
Now my life is damaged. I feel that I have no future.”

McDonald’s Malaysia said in an email that it had ended its contract
with Human Connection. “At McDonald’s Malaysia, the welfare of staff is a
top priority,” said the company. “Earlier this year, we became aware of
certain circumstances relating to services provided by Human Connection
HR which were not in compliance with our standards. As a result, we
have terminated our contract with them.”

“We were not given our salary on time,” said another Nepalese worker.
“When we went to meet the managers of McDonald’s to complain, they
usually said we were not employed by McDonald’s and they are not
responsible for anything. One of my friends even went to the McDonald’s
manager crying after he heard news of his child’s death [at home in
Nepal]. He asked him to ask for his passport [from Human Connection, so
that he could attend the funeral,] but the McDonald’s manager said that
he cannot do anything. I would rather die than go back to work at
McDonald’s. I will never work there [again].”

The Guardian spoke to 15 Nepalese workers formerly employed at four
McDonald’s restaurants in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. The men worked at
McDonald’s at different times over the course of three years.

Advertisement

More
than half said that they had been forced to run away from their jobs
without their passports or back pay, entering the illegal work market in
an attempt to make some money. This would leave them vulnerable to
arrest and detention by the Malaysian authorities.

Others said they had been forced to pay their own way back to Nepal
after their passports were not returned by Human Connection.

Some of the workers criticised McDonald’s for failing to respond to
complaints of mistreatment by Human Connection while they were working
in McDonald’s outlets.

They claim that they repeatedly informed the company about problems
relating to wages, salary deductions and passports, but received no
assistance.

“I complained about our salary to McDonald’s many times, and the
branch manager … sent the message to McDonald’s headquarters,” said one
worker. “[But] McDonald’s said they had already paid Human Connection.”

I expected to earn money here. But I’m leaving with nothing

Nepalese migrant worker

The manager of one McDonald’s branch that previously employed some of
the workers claims that the company’s headquarters in Malaysia were
informed about the problems the men faced: “The labour supply company
withheld two to three months’ wages. The workers only had a photocopy of
their documents, but they should have had the original with them. We
are humans. We tried to help them with food, but you can’t do it all the
time.”

During their time working in McDonald’s restaurants, the men claim
they were paid less than they were promised in Nepal. In some of their
contracts it states that they would not have to pay the foreign worker
levy, a charge placed on companies using migrant labour in Malaysia that
is often passed on to the workers themselves. Payslips seen by the
Guardian show that the levy was deducted, however, equating to a 25%
reduction in their basic wages.

The workers also claim that they had their passports confiscated by
the labour supply company on arrival in Malaysia, a pervasive but
illegal practice that ties them to their employer and denies them the
freedom to leave their job or the country.

“The supply company took our passports, but they will not send
workers back to Nepal or give our passports back,” said one man formerly
working at a McDonald’s restaurant. “Even those who finished the
three-year contract cannot go home because they don’t have their
passports.”

Another worker said: “Even when it is time to go, the company does
not return your passport. I don’t know why … I asked to go home, but the
company said they will not send me back.”

The workers who chose to return home have had to pay the equivalent
of two months’ basic wages to a middleman to arrange the documents and
paperwork needed to get them back to Nepal without their passports.

A hostel used by Nepalese migrants working at McDonald’s
in Kuala Lumpur. The workers say up to 18 men shared the space, with
most sleeping on the floor. Photograph: Pete Pattisson

The Guardian visited one squalid hostel with paint peeling off the
damp walls. McDonald’s advertising banners were used as makeshift
curtains. In one room, a McDonald’s trophy was propped up on a fan
switch with “Best of the Best Kitchen Crew” printed on its base. At one
point, the workers say, 18 men were crammed into the small flat, with
most sleeping on mattresses on the floor. They shared one small, grimy
toilet, which also passed as a washroom.

Firms profiting from their business in places like Malaysia can’t say they're unaware of issues facing migrant workers

Aidan McQuade, director, Anti-Slavery International

In a statement, McDonald’s said: “While local employees make up the
vast majority – more than 90% – of our workforce, we sometimes work with
established recruitment agencies which employ foreign workers,

and
sub-contract a number of them to McDonald’s in Malaysia. These staff
members are employees of the recruitment agency, not McDonald’s.

“McDonald’s Malaysia made repeated attempts with Human Connection HR
to investigate and verify issues of non-compliance shared by the
workers, raising our serious concerns through both verbal and written
correspondence. Because the workers are not employees of McDonald’s, our
efforts to address the issues were unsuccessful, as were proposals for
McDonald’s to assume responsibility for paying workers directly.

In the
interim, to assist, we authorised restaurants to provide food and
provisions to workers affected while we worked to address the issue.

“Following
the termination of our contract, the workers remain employees of Human
Connection HR and as such we understand that they will either return to
their home country or be redeployed to other businesses.”

Human Connection did not respond to a request for comment on the worker’s allegations.

Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International, said
businesses must no longer hide behind codes of conduct but should
instead take proactive measures to ensure they are not profiting from
exploited labour.

“The great tragedy about this kind of exploitation is that it is
actually easy to fix,” he said. “Companies operating and profiting from
their business in places like Malaysia can’t say that they are not aware
of the issues facing migrant workers there. They need to take a
proactive investigative approach to ensuring that, if they use labour
supply companies, those companies are adhering to the law and corporate
codes of conduct. It’s time for this to stop.”

Number of Visits

By 15th June 2008, we 1,328,396 visits...and by 2010, we would have easily crossed the 2 million mark..We started counting visits again in May 2010, and soon we expect to be crossed the million mark yet again. As such, we have had over 3 million visits to our site. On an average, we have about 700-750 visits per day.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement..

I believe in the freedom of expression - and everyone is free to use, reproduce, quote, copy and circulate, etc... materials published here. Please credit the source: http://charleshector.blogspot.com/.

For those of you who do have Blogs/Websites, it would be good if you could add a link to CHARLES HECTOR Blog. Please do promote the BLOG.

Anonymous comments or those containing profanities and obscenities (or irrelevant matters) will be rejected.